After watching this weekend's games, are the Cowboys close?

When you compare what you saw today and yesterday to our Boys, do you guys think we are close? Do you feel less optimistic about our chances next season? Are there some common themes or lessons we can take from the final 8 playoff teams?

- Invest in the offensive line. (San Francisco)
- Get homefield advantage. (Atlanta)
- If at all possible, don't play in the cold. (Denver)
- Never play a safety who doesn't know how to play prevent defense up by seven. (Denver)
- Don't leave points on the field. (Seattle)
- Playing to honor a soon-to-be-retired teammate can be inspirational. (Baltimore)
- Players who take steroids will soon let you down when you need them to perform. (Green Bay)
- Choke artists don't just reside in Dallas. (Denver)
- Tom Brady is better than Peyton Manning by a country mile. (New England)

From watching all the games, what I saw was fast play on offense and defense from all those teams. It was a good weekend watching these teams.

The Cowboys could be getting up there, but they did not play "fast" like the playoff teams.

That's a good point. I saw a lot of gang tackling on defense and a lot of olinemen playing till the whistle (a lot of chippy play after the whistle too). Tackling looked to be improved for our Boys early in the season but it deteriorated quickly as the season wore along and the injuries piled up. I also believe we need to replace Connor with a more athletic player. Oline needs to get nastier, plain and simple.

- Invest in the offensive line. (San Francisco)
- Get homefield advantage. (Atlanta)
- If at all possible, don't play in the cold. (Denver)
- Never play a safety who doesn't know how to play prevent defense up by seven. (Denver)
- Don't leave points on the field. (Seattle)
- Playing to honor a soon-to-be-retired teammate can be inspirational. (Baltimore) - Players who take steroids will soon let you down when you need them to perform. (Green Bay)
- Choke artists don't just reside in Dallas. (Denver)
- Tom Brady is better than Peyton Manning by a country mile. (New England)

I think that about covers it.

Who are you refering to? I think we have a guy like that by the name of Doug Free.

When you compare what you saw today and yesterday to our Boys, do you guys think we are close? Do you feel less optimistic about our chances next season? Are there some common themes or lessons we can take from the final 8 playoff teams?

When you compare what you saw today and yesterday to our Boys, do you guys think we are close? Do you feel less optimistic about our chances next season? Are there some common themes or lessons we can take from the final 8 playoff teams?

We need better line play. A better run game would help greatly too.
No news there.
We also need the freedom to go up tempo at the drop of a hat.

Although we played and lost very close games to two of the four remaining teams, they seem much more well-rounded. Flacco, Ryan, Romo...not a ton of difference really. It's the other areas where they separate. Brady is another story altogther.

Cowboys need to get back to being that physical team, like that of the nineties (especially up front on both sides of the ball) and I think Garrett is trying to do that. It should be the 'Hawks (if they didn't play stupid on D today at the end) and 49ers which are the teams that are like that right now in the NFC championship game.

Cowboys need to get back to being that physical team of the nineties (especially up front on both sides of the ball), hope for less injuries, and I think Garrett is trying to do that. It should be the 'Hawks (if they didn't play stupid on D today at the end) and 49ers which are the teams that are like that right now in the NFC championship game.

I agree. We don't need to run it 40 times per game but we need to be able to finish games in the 4th quarter with the run game like the niners did.